Italfarmaco Spain's Research and Development Department currently focuses on three strategic objectives:

• Identifify innovative ideas that provide advantages over current therapies and transform them into commercial products in the shortest time possible.

• Research into new delivery systems.

• Develop new chemical entities aimed at therapeutic targets of particular interest.

In the last few years we have invested heavily in increasing our infrastructure: enlarging laboratories and building a fully GMP compliant Pilot Plant that has been approved by the Spanish MOH to manufacture IMP's.

A dynamic policy of strategic alliances with CRO's and outside R&D centers,both national and international, has given us much more capacity to deliver the results we are looking for in timely fashion.

Italfarmaco currently manages a portfolio of over 15 R&D projects in severaltherapeutic areas: respiratory, gynecology, dermatology, bone metabolism and oncology. These projects span the whole range of development, from drug discovery to late stage clinicals.

Currently, well over 30% of the company's total turnover has originated in its R&D labs. Many of these products are being rolled out to foreign affiliates and licensees.